Don't Burn the Onions

"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."--Job 42:2

Onions need to be cooked at a low temperature, because if you get your skillet too hot, you're going to burn the butter and blacken the onions. You will end up with a sizzling mess.

But I have a bad habit when it comes to cooking onions. Impatience, twenty-first-century addiction to instant gratification, and simple hunger kick in. I end up turning the temperature high because I want my onions to cook faster. As a result, instead of perfectly tender onion strips, I end up with pieces that are black on one side and raw on the other. This makes for a meal that is ready faster but is not nearly as appetizing as one that is timed properly.

Just like I have a hunger for dinner, I have a strong hunger for full-time ministry. (This blog is going to speak to those of you who have the same desire.) I want the bing bang boom of the Christian life: moving to a third-world country, adopting some orphans, picking out people's lice, praying for the sick, casting out demons--everything. I have a wild imagination. I want to do the stuff that other people say I'm crazy for doing. I want the fire! I want the kind of life people want to read books about....you know, books like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm into the epic stuff, the Acts life, the sell-all-you-have-and-follow-me directive. (At least, this is what I tell people.)

I'm a pretty extreme person. Any onion I've ever cooked can testify to that. (Can I get a witness?? ...Nope, they're all burned to a crisp.)

I wanna get to it. Sometimes my everyday American life (Texas style) seems to have about as much flavor as a saltine cracker compared to the Asian buffet adventures I dream up for myself. I can get restless and impatient--even though moving here and teaching elementary school were steps of faith, pretty extreme. In fact, they were exactly what God told me to do.

I was half-mindedly contemplating all of this while cooking dinner recently. As I struggled impatiently to watch slow onions cook, I considered turning them up. But God said to me, Stop. Don't burn the onions.

Just as it takes the perfect amount of time and temperature to cook onions to the perfect consistency, so it takes just the right conditions for God's plan for me to come to pass in the way He intends. He's the cook, not me. He knows just how to spice, just how to stir, just how much time He needs to get it just right. It's not that I'm a smelly, belligerent, raw onion; it's just that the big plan is much more intricate than I can imagine and involves way more people than I would choose to involve in my onion-burning impatience. Since He created me, He knows perfectly how to prepare my life.

While He cooks, the table must be set. Other dishes must be prepared, other ingredients chopped, other pots boiled. If I neglect to do those things and concentrate only on the onions, I will end up with nothing for dinner but burnt onions.

See what I mean?

I know it's a cheesy metaphor, but I think you're tracking with me.

What's more, if you rush His process trying to get to your big dream, you miss the amazing gifts He has placed in your path.

Picture a wife on date night with her husband. She knows they're going to her favorite restaurant, because he's already told her. She can't stop thinking about that big, juicy steak that she knows is waiting for her. So she throws aside the chocolates, the little notes left all over the house, the conversation in the car, the whole movie he brings her to watch (which she asked to see in the first place). She completely ignores her husband, in fact, because she wants to eat steak.

Getting the picture? The husband doesn't care as much about the steak as he does about spending time with his bride.

Like I say, I know all this sounds pretty cheesy, and I don't like sounding cheesy. I am not trying to give you prescribed answers to fix your spiritual problems. I know firsthand: waiting is HARD, especially if what you're waiting for is something you've been promised by God Himself, something you know is so wonderful and so amazing and beyond your wildest dreams because, after all, He does for us beyond what we could ask, think, or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). It's easy for restlessness to kick in. Restlessness breeds impatience; and impatience, resentment.

That's a dangerous combo, people...hot enough to scorch any meal the Celestial Chef is trying to prepare.

Not that you can really ruin His plan for your life anyway. But you can make it way less fun than He intended for it to be for you.

I don't mean we shouldn't contend for those big ministry dreams we have. We should definitely ask for and pursue them. Actually, I believe we should hold on to those dreams, because they're already happening. We should remember that God is a right now God. In His eyes, the ministry is already around you right now. Don't forget to set the table because you're so ready to eat. Don't neglect to stop and pray for a stranger, feed the orphans, be faithful at work, train your tongue, forgive your family member, serve at church, wash someone's feet, because you are "waiting" for "big ministry" to happen.

You're called. Don't make excuses for not doing what is right in front of you. If you don't do small things now, you'll probably wimp out about big things later. (I may already know about this from experience, so don't think I'm condemning you.)

But also remember that you can relax and rest easy, because the One who does the ministry isn't you. Not only is ministry being done through you, it is being done on you, like, at the same time!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

He prepares everything for the meal beforehand, then cooks it for you. Don't forsake a single morsel of the feast prepared for you by a God who cares more about the details and the big picture than you do. Believe me, if He promised it, He will do it.

Onions really don't take that long to cook, anyway.